US extends deadline for trade tariffs to June 1st

U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed the imposition of steel and aluminium tariffs on Canada, the European Union and Mexico until June 1, and has reached agreements for permanent exemptions for Argentina, Australia and Brazil, the White House said on Monday.

A 10 percent tariff on aluminum and 25 percent steel tariff had been set to go into effect May 1, at midnight.

The announcement offers some relief from a looming trade war with America’s closest allies. Trump had already suggested that Mexico and Canada would be temporarily exempt from tariffs set to go into effect on March 23, as the three countries work through NAFTA renegotiations. Then, as that tariff deadline loomed in March, the Trump administration extended the implementation deadline to May 1 not just for Canada and Mexico, but for all the European Union countries, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea to facilitate possible negotiations.